Deputies arrest New York murder suspect

Cortney Pitts

At approximately 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) deputies, detectives from the New York Police Department (NYPD) and U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force agents arrested Cortney Pitts, 26, of New York City, on charges stemming from an October 2015 murder in Bronx County, New York.

“A tremendous amount of effort went into tracking down Pitts after he was positively identified as the suspect in a murder in New York,” Sheriff Jim Matthews said in a KCSO press release. “Our office is always willing to help other agencies in the apprehension of fugitives from anywhere who settle down in Kershaw County.”

It took nearly two years for NYPD detectives to identify Pitts as the murder suspect in the homicide. A DNA hit from material found under the fingernails of the murder victim was finally matched to the Pitts. Upon learning that he was wanted in this homicide, Pitts fled to South Carolina. A relentless investigation by the NYPD, with some help from the Marshals service in Columbia, helped law enforcement officers from those two agencies and the KCSO find Pitts at a Douglas Street residence in Camden where they arrested him without incident.

Deputies then transported Pitts to the KCSO for questioning and then to the Kershaw County Detention Center where he is being detained. NYPD detectives were scheduled to transport Pitts back to New York on Wednesday to face the homicide charges.